Daryush Mehta: Zoroastrian Chaplain at Harvard and MIT in Boston, USA

From Harvard’s website: Daryush Mehta

It is with great humility that I represent the Zoroastrian community as a Chaplain at Harvard University. Dr. Cyrus Mehta has diligently represented the Zoroastrian community in this capacity for 15 years, and I am honored to continue his good work and to engage in religious dialog with the larger community.

My mother’s father, Dasturji N. D. Minochehr-Homji was a High Priest of the Zoroastrian community in Bombay and a religious scholar before his passing in the mid-1980s. My grandfather’s teachings, kindness, and philosophy of dialog and inclusion are imbibed within me as a practicing Zoroastrian. My parents raised my two sisters and me in Florida with a strong connection to the local Zoroastrian community.

Coming to MIT for graduate school offered me the opportunity to join the Zoroastrian Association of the Greater Boston Area (ZAGBA), for whom I have been the Youth Liaison since 2004. I helped co-found the Zoroastrian Students of Boston (ZSB), a group that brings together students and youth from around the area to perform service activities, engage in religious dialog, and host eminent Zoroastrian leaders and scholars. Along with Dr. Mehta, I help lead and organize the Gatha Study Group that meets regularly at Phillips Brooks House to discuss the Gathic scripture (holy songs) of the Zoroastrian prophet Zarathushtra. Zoroastrianism was founded over 3000 years ago and has evolved into the diaspora today with the catchphrase “Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds.”

I am not a minister by training; currently I am a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. As a member of the Harvard Chaplaincy, I would like to engage you to promote religious education and interfaith dialog and to connect with Harvard’s community on many levels. I invite you, your family, your friends, your partners, and others interested to come and help communicate an understanding about Zoroastrian theology in the context of academia, family, and social networks.

E-mail: daryush.mehta@gmail.com
Telephone:  (617) 599-0328
Address: Harvard Chaplains’ Office, The Memorial Church, Harvard Yard
Web site: zagba.org